Map Spotlight Week 18 - Metropolis

Tired of sifting through Halo: Reach files, looking for a fun map to play with your friends? Well, community goer, look no further. Today, I will be featuring Howey Do It's map, Metropolis-"a beautiful city, floating on a placid sea." For more information regarding the creative process, look below, and afterward click the download link to get an even better feel for the map. Enjoy.

Q. Who are you and why do you forge?

A. I am Howey Do It, and I have always wanted to make levels (maps) of my own.

Q. What was your inspiration for Metropolis?

A. Well, I originally wanted to build a city with massive buildings and such, but the idea shifted and although retaining the central plaza I envisioned, it kind of made itself after that.

Q. Where is Metropolis located and why did you choose that location?

A. Metropolis is located on the water near the Pillar, and in between the cliffs and the island. I built it there because I needed enough open space to build it, while still providing obvious orientation which the cliff provides.

Q. Did you employ any unusual forge techniques in making Metropolis?

A. Not really, all I did was try and give it a familiar feel, with central plaza to make you feel right at home the moment you step into a game.

Q. What separates your map from other maps?

A. It has the ability to be played with up to 16 players without being absolutely cluttered, while still being small enough to be played with 4 people and still be enjoyable.

Q. Anything else people should know before they download?

A. Only that while playing on this map, be sure to have a blast!!! A special thanks to DKDWlive for all the constructive criticism. And also thanks to The T00L B0X, because without all the ideas, comments and constructive criticism, I wouldn't even have finished this map.

Thanks a million for your time Howey-both for answering all of my tedious questions, and for creating this remarkable map for all to enjoy.

Forever - A Halo: Reach/Halo 3 Montage

"This is a Halo 3 and Halo: Reach mixtage from HwnT, put together by himself. The gameplay is entirely MLG, and features some really sick snipes, including a nice under pressure quick scope at 3:06, a nice 2 for 1 triple on Countdown, and a pretty nasty overkill at the end. The editing goes with the soundtrack quite well, demonstrating another case of simple yet effective editing. Enjoy!"

Community Carnage: Nostalgia

Community Carnage: Nostalgia goes back to the roots of Classic BTB. This week we are serving you a platter of epic carnage at two times. Thursday, March 31st from 5pm to 7pm PDT, and Saturday, April 2nd from 10am to 12pm PDT. Please note that the Saturday Carnage was scheduled with European players in mind.

Weekday Carnage signups are now open, and weekend Carnage signups open 3/30/11 at 10am PDT.

For more details, or to sign up, visit our thread in the Community Forum.

Teabag Prevention Reviews: Defiant Map Pack

Still on the fence? We provided details you need, along with helpful tips!

TPP is offering to help ease you into the new maps. Read the quick description, and hit the jump when ready.

"Condemned takes place on Orbital Station Gamma, a long-range communication space station meant to establish communication between Earth and Reach. This space station isn't all pretty though. The Covies have entered and destroyed parts of the station. If you pay attention to the walls, you'll see Covie blood splatters and destroyed monitors..."

I Shot You First!

Gameplay Networking in Halo: Reach.

In case you missed David Aldridge's infamous GDC performance, we just uploaded all the slides and we're ready to show them off in all their epic glory. There's even a few extra sections Aldridge didn't have the time to delve into included for good measure. Be fair warned, though. The full file is more than 500 megabytes large. If you're conserving bandwidth, try the tiny file on for size first and see how it suits you.

"Gameplay networking is easy once you have a socket open!" Find out all the things that are wrong with that statement in this gripping tale of the perilous minefield that lies between sockets and game code. This talk describes in detail the patterns and processes that have allowed Bungie to repeatedly set new standards for gameplay networking quality. Come see how we develop competitive game mechanics that are fun over the Internet, learn what kinds of network introspection tools you need to build into your next online game, and marvel at the low-tech way we measure lag."

Bungie All Stars - Week 12

No glue required. (UPDATED!)

Alright, no Forge this week. Since Hal whipped you up some awesome wallpapers in Friday's update, I figure it's your turn to return the favor. Using the Theater, take a screenshot worthy of gracing my desktop. (It's a tall order. You should see what I have pinned up there right now. If I showed it to you, I'd have to kill you.)

Here are this week's rules:

Snap a wallpaper worthy screenshot in Halo: Reach (if you want to slap in your own custom artwork, be my guest, but no funny business*).

You have from this very second until Thursday, March 31st at 11:59pm PT to submit your entry for consideration to contest@bungie.com.

Use the subject line “Bungie All Star Week 12” without the quotation marks.

The size limit is 10MB. Include a preview image and a link to the original in your file share (unless it's custom art).

One submission per person. Please include your Bungie.net profile and gamertag in your email.

Go!

*You can submit an original screenshot, your own art, or a blend of both. "Funny business" includes anything that we wouldn't publish to Bungie.net. Lewd stuff and the like.

HC BTB Map Contest Map Pack

A little over a month ago, Halocharts announced a BTB map making contest, aimed at finding great community maps for use in the 2011 Halocharts BTB tournament. We now invite you to check out some of the awesomeness that was submitted.

These maps are organized by quality of design and gameplay into onyx, gold, silver, bronze, and iron divisions. You will find great maps for competetive BTB games in the Onyx and Gold divisions. In the silver and bronze, you will find some awesome maps for your more relaxed custom BTB sessions. If you need maps for your next 16 man custom session, whether it be a group match or just screwing around with friends, you will find something you like in these submissions. Each division page includes preview screenshots and a short commentary on the maps.

Map Spotlight Week 17 - Sanctum

Those seeking more custom content created in Forge can find by looking down. Read a little bit about the creative process, then download the map to see it and believe it.

"Today, I will be presenting D4RKF1R3's remarkable creation, Sanctum. Read on and find out a little bit more about the map.

Q. Who are you and why do you forge?

A. My GT is o0 darkfire 0o but to everyone else my name is Chris. I started forging back when Halo 3 came out though I wasn't very good at it, my best map involved a rather bland box. Reach's forge really opened up the possibilities for me, the simple phasing tool cut down forging time for me from days to minutes.

Q. What was your inspiration for Sanctum?

A. I looked at Reach's maps and noticed there was a real lack of symmetrical. I wanted to see some competitive maps akin to Sanctuary from Halo 2 and Assembly from Halo 3. I guess Sanctum was born out of that initial idea.

Q. Where is Sanctum located and why did you choose that location?

A. I picked the Coliseum mainly for the flat floor. I experimented with making it up on the Quarry which didn't offer the flat flooring I was after and building my own floor cost too many walls. The Coliseum just fit perfectly for my needs.

Q. Did you employ any unusual forge techniques in making Sanctum?

A. Unusual? I wouldn't say so, but one thing I did with Sanctum that I recommend to any other forgers would be to start in the center. The sword and invisibility rooms were the first things I made. I just built around that main structure, everything seemed to fall in place.

Q. What separates your map from other maps?

A. Honestly? I have no idea. I love the two bases I made for red and blue, though I wouldn't say its entirely unique in design.

Q. Anything else people should know before they download?

A. Please leave me some feedback if you try it out. And I just want to thank all the people that helped make my map better. Not only The T00l Box for noticing Sanctum but also The Forging Assembly for looking at the map and helping suggest ways to make Sanctum better. I honestly would not be answering these questions without all those great people.

Thank you for your time, D4RKF1R3, and for all of you bungie.net members out there, feel free to go ahead and download the map file below. Be sure to provide D4RKF1R3 with feedback, as well.

A Fistful of Arrows Finds a Home

Permanent relocation.

It's not too often we make news items for content relocation, but Leviathan's work warrants special attention. I'm going to drop you into page one instead of the latest panel, just in case you're not up to speed. And if you're not up to speed, now is a great time to dig into this wonderfully unique fan creation.

The Running Riot Podcast LIVE Tonight!

The Running Riot just wants to remind you to tune into tonight's LIVE interview with Goosechecka from Grifballhub. Come hang out in the Green Room before the interview for some music and a little precast chat. Along with backstage passes to join us in the show, we will also be giving away a few Defiant Map Pack codes! The Green Room goes live at 9:30pm ET and the interview starts at 10. Find a way to make it happen. You can do it.

Project Magma Releases Myth II 1.7.2 Public Beta

Play over the Internet for free!

Project Magma, the group of fans who volunteer their time to help keep the Myth game series alive and updated for modern day systems, has just released the second Public Beta for their upcoming Myth II version 1.7.2 update, and they need your help! Their news release is below:

"The second public beta of Myth II 1.7.2 is now available. Everyone is encouraged to install it and help test the next version of Myth II. It is compatible with previous versions, so you don't have to worry about any red games. A summary of the changes from previous versions can be viewed here. The goal is to find any bugs, so that we can fix them before the final version. To contribute feedback please join us on our forums.

Marissa's Bunny: The Gift Pack that Keeps on Giving

We have a winner!

Looks like they're having a really hard time giving great stuff away over at Marissa's Bunny. It's really heartwarming to see such generosity on display. If you want to see it first hand, or you just want to win great prizes, hit the link and check it out at the jump. Thanks to HBO for keeping us up to speed.

Bungie All Stars - Week 11

Go on a Spawn Spree!

I read a forum post last week that recommended we stop doing these All Stars competitions on account of keeping the Star Nameplate ultra rare. No dice! In terms of raw percentages, the Star is in no danger of becoming tarnished. Besides, how else am I gonna pad out the updates?

Here are this week's rules:

Head into Forge and lay down spawn points to fashion your greatest work. You can utilize standard Forge objects as accent pieces, but spawn points must be the main event.

You have from this very second until Thursday, March 24th at 11:59pm PT to submit your entry for consideration to contest@bungie.com.

Use the subject line “Bungie All Star Week 11” without the quotation marks.

The size limit for attachments is 10MB. Make sure you attach the screenshot itself, and include a link to the original in your Bungie.net File Share.

One submission per person. Please include your Bungie.net profile and gamertag in your email.